byte

Everyday

A unit of computer memory or data made of 8 bits (8 ones and zeros); one byte can store one letter like «A». tree →

In the lessons

In computing lessons, bytes measure file sizes and memory: kilobytes (KB), megabytes (MB), gigabytes (GB), terabytes (TB). It tells you how much space a photo, song or game takes up. Phrase: «a byte of data».

Examples

• One byte is made of eight bits. tree →
• A single letter takes up about one byte. tree →
• This photo is about 3 megabytes. tree →
• My tablet has 64 gigabytes of storage. tree →
• A kilobyte is about a thousand bytes. tree →
• The game needs a lot of bytes of memory. tree →
• We counted the bytes in our secret binary message. tree →

Note

Countable: a byte, bytes. Homophone trap: «byte» sounds like «bite» (with teeth) and «bight» (a curve in a coast). In maths: 1 byte = 8 bits; 1 kilobyte = 1,000 bytes (or 1,024 in older computer counting); 1 megabyte = 1,000 kilobytes; 1 gigabyte = 1,000 megabytes.